Heart of a Hero
by Celestial Maiden Sukira
Summary: As an Anti-Phantom rally forms and his school marks slipping, Danny Fenton is on the verge of quitting the superhero business for good. Will a sick little girl's final wish of meeting Danny Phantom in person change his mind? Set after "Urban Jungle".
1. Damage

_Hey guys! It's me again with another DP fanfic called: "Heart of a Hero"! I had wanted to do this one for a few weeks now, so here's the summary:_

An Anti-Phantom rally has formed by the unsure citizens of Amity Park, trying to resurface the negative points of Danny's superhero status. After several encounters with his enemies along with the rally, Danny is on the verge of quitting the superhero business for good. That is, until he finds a note to Phantom in the newspaper about a sick little girl named Tanya Willson and her dying wish is to meet the famous Phantom in person...

_So, what do you think? Here's the first chapter as a sample of what is to come!_

* * *

It was about mid Sunday morning in the town of Amity Park, Wyoming. The sun was shining brightly without a single cloud in the light blue sky. The townspeople called along the street or hurried to the mall's Sunday super sales in their speeding cars. Others were still sleeping in at home. One of the citizens, however, had his work cut out for him this weekend. 

Danny Phantom was flying high the blue sky in a panicked flight formation, his body almost a tiny, fast moving grey-ish blur from down below. Several green blasts of energy swiftly passed him while he ducked and weaved though them with ease. He yawned. He had been rudely awakened by Skulker: the self proclaimed greatest hunter of the Ghost Zone, early this morning. Danny despised being woken up before his desired hour, which was usually ten o'clock in the morning.

"Come on, ghost child!" called Skulker in his sick playful tone. "You know you're better than this!"

Unfortunately for Danny, Skulker's new battle suit had returned since their small encounter when they were both shrunken by the Fenton Crammer: a ghost hunting invention created by Danny's father, Jack Fenton, that was capable of shrinking a ghost down ten times its size and slowly negate its powers overtime. Skulker's new suit had more gadgets and weapons than his last one, and even Danny didn't know how many new things came along with it.

Seeking the opportunity, Danny turned invisible and flew behind a large glass office building, in hopes of catching his breath for a short amount of time. He was too tired to fight, let alone hungry. He hadn't even had a bite to eat before he left the house.

"I have you now!"

The sudden boom of the hunter's voice made Danny's heart skip a beat. Skulker fired a barrage of small daggers out of his gauntlets, cracking and shattering the windows of the building as Danny ran across them on a ninety degree angle. The workers screamed and ducked under their desks as each dagger crashed through the glass.

_Oops,_ Danny thought. _I'd better get away from here, quick!_

Leaping off the building, the half ghost took flight once more, only to be brought down by one of Skulker's hulking ecto-guns in the back. Danny was slammed into the middle of a street, causing cars to swerve off course and crash into each other. Danny shakily got up to his feet and stepped out of the deep crater, brushing rock and dirt off of his hazmat costume. If he was human, he would have died at falling from a hundred feet. Thank God he had ghost powers.

No sooner did Skulker follow him back onto the ground. Asphalt crushed under his weight as he took each step. Guns, blades and other weapons suddenly popped out of his suit through his mental commands.

"Enough with your games!" he shouted angrily, his fiery green Mohawk blazing wildly. "This ends now!"

Thinking quickly of the situation, Danny smirked. "Dude, I think you need to chill."

Before Skulker could figure out why Danny would say this, the half ghost's eyes shone bright blue, the kind of blue that Danny's human form possessed; only they were glowing. Danny shot a bright blue ectoplasmic blast right at the center of the stunned Skulker's chest, causing a thick crust of solid blue ice to spread over his armor in mere seconds. Skulker was as good as beaten with his mechanical ecto-skeleton frozen to the very gears and wires that held it together.

Still smirking at the frozen ghost, Danny took out his silver and green Fenton thermos. "Gee, you should change your title to the Ghost Zone's greatest ice sculpture…"

Removing the top of the thermos, Danny pressed a button on the side and sucked up the defeated ghostly hunter in a flash of blue and white light. Slamming the cap tightly shut, Danny sighed in relief and yawned.

"Man, I'm beat," he muttered. "I'd better get back home quick, before Mom and Dad find out that I've been gone for almost an hour."

With another jump, Danny flew into the air once more, without even noticing the passengers of the crashed cars frowning at him through broken windshields. Some of them had gotten out, luckily unharmed by the impacts, and cursed angrily at the ghost boy as they shook balled fists through the air. But none of their angry curses or threats reached him, on the account that he was far out of hearing range.

Daemon Grey was one of them. Even though he and his daughter, Valerie, were alive and well, the damages to his small car were monstrous. Both of the headlights were smashed to pieces, the front bumper had fallen off when he had stopped in front of a speeding taxi, and the side doors and the back were dented in a few different places. Bright red paint was scratched off everywhere on his car where the damages were and possibly more. Altogether, he estimated all the damages were around over 2000 dollars altogether.

"Valerie, are you alright?" he asked worriedly, poking his head through the driver's door.

His daughter, Valerie, gave a loud groan as she rubbed her sore head. "I think so, daddy. How's the car?"

Daemon gave a look of grief at his daughter. Valerie's eyes widened and scrambled out of the car to see the damage the ghosts' battle had left behind on her father's car. She clenched her teeth hard.

"Why that lowdown, rotten son of a-"

"That's enough, Valerie," interrupted Daemon sharply. "Forget the car. What would have happened if you were killed in this accident? The car, I can fix. I can't replace you."

Valerie temper faded from her eyes as she looked upon her father. "I know, daddy, but Phantom nowadays is picking up more than just a fight. Just let me go and get him-"

"No, Valerie. I know you want to bring the ghost kid to justice, especially what happened a few months back at the lab, but violence isn't the answer."

Valerie's face fell. "But, dad-"

"No means no, Valerie, and if I catch you going out ghost hunting again, you will be _seriously_ grounded." He added a hard emphasis on 'seriously'. "Do I make myself clear, young lady?"

Valerie tightened her fists hard. "Yes," she said coldly, not even bothering to look at her father in the eye as she answered.

Even though Valerie's answer wasn't the most promising, it was still an oath she had to keep. Daemon couldn't still understand why or how his daughter had gotten hold of her new ghost hunting gear, but she could now mentally call upon it at will. He didn't even know to what extent it had on weapons and gadget, even after weeks of secretly analyzing the materials.

Satisfied with his daughter's answer, Daemon kissed her fatherly on the cheek. "Thanks sweetie." He then turned and walked away with his now open cell phone in one hand to call a tow truck.

Meanwhile, Valerie stared at her faint reflection in the spider webbed glass of the car's windshield.

_No ghost hunting? _She thought, thinking about what the consequences would be if her father found out._ How can I bring Phantom down without my weapons? I could sneak out-_ She paused and shook her head. _No. Dad would find out that I was gone in less than a few minutes. I can't ask Star to cover my back, either. She wouldn't understand. What can I do?

* * *

So, what did you guys think? Should I continue or let it flop? Read and review please!_


	2. Dillemas

_Greetings, my fellow readers. Thanks for the reviews so far. And who'd a thunkit? It's almost December, which means Christmas and a holiday DP story wich will be released very soon! Remember, don't forget to read and review!_

_Oh and, FYI: yes, I know this plot was from a Spiderman episode. Please don't flame me with reminders that this is some cheap parrody of the 90's Spiderman show. Spiderman is one of the greatest superheroes ever made by Marvel comics up to date, IMO. I will just use your cheap flames for roasting marshmallows.  
_

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _DP_, but I own this story. Fear me and my disclaimer of **DOOM**!  
_

* * *

"Danny, you'd better hurry up for school or you'll be late!" 

Danny groaned as he heard his mother, Maddie, said 'school'. After a repetitive number of ghost fights yesterday, he didn't have at least one minute to himself to relax. Plus, he didn't have a chance to finish up his Math homework for Felucca's class (although Danny had a rough time understanding the Pythagorean Theorem as it was displayed in Felucca's chicken scratch handwriting). Danny rushed downstairs for breakfast after having a quick shower to wake him up.

"'Morning, dad," Danny mumbled as he grabbed a carton of orange juice out of the fridge.

Jack Fenton, who was sitting at the kitchen table welding some strange ghost hunting device, lifted off his green tinted goggles and ginned. "'Morning, son," he greeted. "'Sleep well?"

Danny yawned, without even bothering to ask what his father made this time. "Not really."

"Why?" Jack asked curiously. "Do you think it was a ghost-?"

"**NO!"** Danny suddenly cried out, taking the basic fighting stance before he usually went ghost.

Jack blinked. Danny did as well; obviously startled that he had almost blown his secret identity right in front of his ghost obsessed father. Danny loosened up and ran a hand through his untidy hair.

"Er, no ghost trouble, dad," he said nervously. "It's probably just temporary insomnia, that's all. It'll wear off sooner or later."

Being as oblivious as he was, Jack forgot Danny's weird behavior and smiled. "Alright, but get to bed earlier. I don't want your grades slipping further. You look as pale as a ghost, too!"

Danny stiffened as his father uttered 'ghost'. He wished that he wouldn't hear that word for at least the rest of the day, or at least when school was over.

* * *

"Mr. Fenton? Mr. Fenton!" 

Danny's head shot up like a rocket off his desk. "Forty-two!"

Mr. Felucca's math class suddenly burst into a roar of laughter, with Danny being as tired, dazed and confused as when he driven to school this morning by his older sister, Jazz. A short, balding man with over magnified eyes behind a thick pair of black glasses stared at Danny crossly while holding a light blue book and a red pen.

"Alright class, settle down," Mr. Felucca said in a low nasally voice. "Mr. Fenton has given us all a good laugh this morning, but on to business!" He turned to Danny with his book and pen ready in hand. "May I see your homework, Danny?"

Rubbing his tired eyes, Danny quickly flipped through his school bag for his math folder, only to find that his homework was missing when he opened it up!

_Crud!_ Danny thought worriedly. _I must have put it somewhere else…_

"Just a second," he said to the teacher.

Danny went through his bag again, shuffling binders and books for his missing math homework.

_No, no, no! It's got to be here! I'm sure of it! I'm sure of-_

Then, Danny froze in place. An image of his homework flashed through his memory, only the booklet was lying on his desk at home beside his spare Fenton thermos. He mentally smacked his head. He was in such a rush that he had forgotten to bring his homework!

_Oh, fudge!_

"I think I left it at home, sir," Danny finally said to Mr. Felucca. "I've done most of it, though."

Mr. Felucca sighed and shook his head in grief as he marked an 'X' in his mark book. "I don't need excuses, Danny," he said firmly. "I need results." He tapped his book with the back of the pen, showing Danny a row of red 'X's across where his name was on the attendance list. "This is the fifth time in a row you've missed the homework check this month, so something is up with your study habits."

_Yeah, I've been busy keeping all these stupid ghosts from destroying the town all this month. You're giving _me_ grief for that?_ Danny thought angrily. He was getting the urge to overshadow his math teacher in order to change his mind about his grades.

"Nonetheless," continued Mr. Felucca. "I _will_ arrange a meeting with your parents unless you can come to tutorials all this week to study for the end of term test and, hopefully, pass it with flying colors. Can you handle all of that, Mr. Fenton?"

Knowing he didn't have a choice, Danny nodded. "Yes, sir. I can."

Felucca smiled. "Good. Come here after school with your work so you can show me what exactly which topics you're struggling in."

* * *

"Man," groaned a dark skinned boy with a red beret and dark turquoise eyes to Danny, as they walked down the hall to second period. "Felucca was really serious about your Math grade." 

"Really?" Danny asked sarcastically. "I didn't notice."

"Knock it off, Tucker," snapped a girl with bright purple eyes and short black hair. "Danny's under enough pressure as it is with these past few weeks of non-stop ghost hunting and that you keep reminding him of his GPA."

"At this rate, I'm never going to pass the ninth grade!" moaned Danny. "I've basically flunked Math and Social Studies. Lancer's been warning me to pick up my English grade lately, too, and the only classes I've been passing through are Science and P.E, but that's only because you guys have been helping me get through them!"

"Hey, don't feel bad, Danny," said Tucker. "All you need to do is keep your 'C' average steady and you'll get through the next term in a snap! I mean, look at me! I stink in P.E. and English, and I still get by okay. Thanks to Sam, she helped me pass the President's fitness test during the spring."

"Only because you had no physical strength whatsoever," Sam pointed out. Tucker frowned.

Danny sighed. "I've been so caught up being Danny Phantom lately that I haven't been taking the time to do my schoolwork. If I fail this term, my folks are going to figure something's up about my study habits, and if that happens…" He sighed again. "Phantom's going to be showing up less and less. Sometimes I wish that I never had these powers in the first place. Maybe I was better off just being a normal kid with normal grades, instead a ghost kid superhero with failure marked all over his face."

"Danny, don't say that!" Sam cried. "If you never had your powers…well, you'd never be able to stop Vlad from trying to kill your dad or stop the ghost king!"

Danny stared at Sam coldly. "Is that it?"

Sam hesitated. She hadn't seen Danny this depressed and angry since the Spectra incident.

"Er…"

"Hey, Danny!" called a familiar voice behind the founding members of Team Phantom.

Danny darted around to see Valerie Gray, his ex-girlfriend and most the dangerous ghost hunter in Amity Park. His eyes widened as he saw what she was wearing. Instead of her normal attire of a yellow tank top and bright orange miniskirt, Valerie was wearing a black t-shirt with a white collar and sleeves. Danny Phantom's logo was stuck on the chest along with a crossed red circle overlapping it. Her dark blue three quarter jeans hung at her waist and ended at her bare ankles.

"Oh, uh, hey Val!" answered Danny, a little confused of what exactly was going on. "Nice shirt."

"You like it?" Valerie asked with a smile. "I got it at the mall last night with Star. I just made a few adjustments to it." She turned her back to Danny to show the bright red letters spelling: _Anti-Phantom Rally_.

"Anti-Phantom rally?" Danny gulped as he read the words.

"Yep," Valerie said proudly. "Phantom's going to be meeting his match very soon."

"What do you have against Phantom?" Sam interjected. "He's the protector of Amity Park!"

Valerie turned her attention to Sam with a cold, hard glare. "A protector doesn't raise over thirty thousand dollars in property damage and injures twenty passengers in car accidents in one day."

Danny froze. Thirty grand in property damages? What was he thinking yesterday?

"Not to also mention theft and destruction of Axion Labs prototype space equipment and satellite," added Valerie. "My father's lucky to still have his job after Phantom's stupid stunt three months ago!"

"Phantom only did that because a ghost had somehow tapped into the company's main computer and was beamed into the satellite after breaking the ten thousand digit password!" Tucker shouted. "If it wasn't for Phantom, every piece of technology in the world would be-"

"Butt out, Tucker!" snarled Sam and Valerie at the same time. Tucker flinched.

Just before Sam and Valerie could argue more, the warning bell rang for second period. Both the girls glared at each other once more before Valerie decided to go on ahead, giving Sam one more icy cold stare before she vanished into the Social Studies.

Sam turned to Danny, exasperated by her argument. "You didn't say one word to back me up, Danny! Are you just going to let her do that to you?"

Danny shrugged. "Hey, it's a free country."

"What do you mean: 'It's a free country'? She's trying to get rid of you!"

"Yeah, but she's not firing guns like a crazy person. Besides, she probably won't get enough people to hold up the protest. Most of the town's on my side anyway."

* * *

"Or not?" 

Danny stared at a massive mob of twenty of thirty Anti-Phantom protesters just outside Fenton Works' door, all wearing the same t-shirts as Valerie had and held picket signs with harsh phrases painted on the front. One read: **"Go home, ghost!"** while others said, **"This Ghost is Toast!" **and **"Our Hero's a Zero!"**

Danny gulped once more. _So much for having some peace and quiet this afternoon,_ he thought. Instead of using the front entrance and risk interfering with the protesters, Danny decided to quietly walk around the back (being invisible for a quick moment) and used the back door. Thankfully, no protestors had entered the house.

Unfortunately, his parents were home.

"Danny?" asked Maddie. "Is that you?"

Maddie poked her head through the opening and sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness, you're alright! Those protestors have been at our door for almost two hours…"

"Two hours!" Danny exclaimed. "What have they been doing all this time?"

Maddie rubbed her eyes with one hand as she took a seat in the kitchen. "They've been out there shouting at me and your father all afternoon because they think that we're not doing our jobs properly. They've even made a petition to shut down the Ghost portal for good if we don't catch the ghost boy soon."

As much as Danny liked the idea of having his ghost problem solved for good, he couldn't help but think of how much the portal meant to his parents. "Shut down the portal? But…you can't! I mean, you and dad had worked on that thing since college!"

"Danny, I know how much this means to us, but it's not a means of science anymore," said Maddie sadly, "it's about the town's safety. If we can't protect the town, the portal will have to go. Those protestors have threatened us that they'll be bringing the petition to the Mayor this Friday unless we can get Phantom beforehand."

_Wow,_ Danny mused. _Valerie is serious about this…_

"But isn't Phantom supposed to be the good guy?" Danny insisted, feeling a bit uncomfortable about the situation. "I mean, he did save the town from Pariah Dark six months ago. Don't you think you should go easy on him for that?"

"He stole the Ecto-Skeleton! Even though he saved the town, your father and I still don't trust him."

Danny looked around, suspecting Jack was somewhere listening to his son's conversation, but there was no sign of the orange-clad man anywhere.

"Speaking of dad, where is he? I haven't seen him since this morning."

"He decided to take the Ghost Assault Vehicle and go do a few errands before we go on ghost patrol tonight."

_More like a few traffic accidents,_ Danny thought with a grin, recall how insane his dad's driving skills were. Danny even wondered if his father even _had_ a driver's license.

"Anyway," Maddie continued, "I want you and Jazz to stay in the house while we're out. I'm sure you two will do fine without us around the place. And if those protestors show up at the door again, tell them we're doing our job perfectly fine." She paused for a moment. "I think I saw that girl from your school leading the crowd too. You know… the one you dated for a few days? What's her name now? Victoria, Vivian…"

Danny blushed. "Valerie?"

Maddie snapped her fingers. "Yes, that's the one! Valerie Gray! I've never seen such a motivated girl in my life! Is she still going out with you?"

Danny shook his head sadly, feeling the pain he had felt about three months ago. "No, we decided to be…you know…friends."

Maddie's face fell. "Oh, honey. I'm...so sorry to hear that." She wrapped her arms around her son tightly. "Are you alright?"

Danny smiled weakly as he tried to feel a bit better by his mother's comforting hug. "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. Thanks mom."

_So, mom and dad are patrolling the town tonight and, I'm guessing the rest of the week. Okay, that isn't so bad. As long as no ghosts show up, I'll be fine, I'll pass the Math test and those stupid protestors will be history. _Danny bit his lip slightly._ I hope…_

* * *

_Oh boy. Things don't look too good for Danny! With an Anti-Phantom mob, a Math test and a threat to close the portal, how will he manage? Stay tuned...  
_


	3. Distractions

_Yay! Finally, it's up! It took me forver to finish this chapter and find a decent plot. I've got some idea of what Chapter 4 is going to be like but I don't know what the update schedule is going to be like. _

**WARNING: this chapter contains spoilers from Season 3 of Danny Phantom. If you don't like to be spoiled, I strongly suggest that you skip the first section of the chapter. In the future, more elements from Season 3 will be added to the story. This is your final warning before you read on: _this chapter contains spoilers from Season 3 of Danny Phantom_. ****Read at your own risk!**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "Danny Phantom" or any of its characters. If I did, I'd be super rich, popular and male.

* * *

"So, 'A' squared plus 'B' squared equals 'C' squared, making the Pythagoras equation and finding the solution of the missing side of a triangle" explained Jazz smartly. "The equation can also be switched, due to that some questions might give you a different set of sides and angles. Are you getting all of this, Danny?" 

"For the hundredth time, Jazz, _yes_!" groaned Danny, massaging his temples from the massive math overload. Doing it with Felucca after school was one thing, but Jazz was a bit more complex in her teaching and studying after dinner was harder for him than it looked.

"Alright, Captain Grouch, take it easy! I'm just trying to help you study-"

"And it's not getting through my brain as fast as I thought it would!" Danny slammed his head onto his open math text book with exhaustion. "I'm done for the night…"

"Suit yourself," Jazz said with a shrug. "I still think you should study for at least another half hour, Danny. Felucca is expecting a 'C' or higher from you this term."

"I know, I know," Danny sighed while he closed his own textbook. "It's just that…I've got bigger things to worry about right now than some stupid math test. Phantom has an anti-fan club now, and mom and dad's jobs are at stake. Not to mention a petition to shut down the portal for good. " He ran a hand through his thick black hair. "I tell you, Vlad's going to have a field day with this one."

"Don't remind me," Jazz muttered with a frown.

Ever since Vlad Masters, otherwise known to the gang as the half ghost, Vlad Plasmius, had become the mayor of Amity Park, things weren't the same as they used to for Team Phantom. It was getting harder for Danny to keep a low profile when he went ghost since Vlad had the power to turn laws against him. Even though Jack and Maddie were proud that their old college friend had a political status, they still sometimes discussed if the power had went to his head. Jack usually stuck by Vlad, but Maddie was still unsure. Danny thought she still couldn't trust the half ghost since their unexpected trip to Colorado months ago.

"Even though Vlad is the mayor now," said Jazz, resting a hand on Danny shoulder. "He can't stop you from protecting the city. I mean, he's got his share of things to do now. Paperwork and such…"

"Are you siding with my arch-enemy now?" Danny demanded; his arms were now firmly crossed.

Jazz shook her head violently. "No! Of course not! I'm just saying he won't be appearing as often now because of his mayor duties, making it a bit easier on you to focus on other ghosts."

"He has his ways of getting around his loopholes, Jazz, and you've known that for a while. Skulker's sided with him since the beginning, and who knows how many of my enemies will be joining him next." He counted on his fingers. "Technus, Desiree, Ember, Bertrand, Spectra, Youngblood, Freakshow, Pariah Dark, the evil me…"

Jazz lightly chuckled. "You've got enough foes to form an army!"

"Let's just hope it never comes to that," Danny muttered worriedly. Suddenly, he gasped and shivered. A small stream of light blue mist that was his ghosts sense escaped from his mouth and loomed in the air for a few seconds until it finally evaporated. "Aw, man. Not now!"

"Danny, don't! Mom and dad are still on patrol!" Jazz exclaimed.

"I have to Jazz. I'm going ghost!"

As if on cue, a halo of bluish white energy formed at his waist and split into two as they moved up and down Danny's body. A black and white hazmat jumpsuit replaced his red and white t-shirt, baggy jeans and red and white sneakers. At the center of his chest, was his famous emblem of a large white 'D' with a black 'P' on the inside. Danny's pale skin on his face was now slightly tanned. His once raven black hair was now the color of snow and his icy blue eyes now shone neon green. Danny Phantom now hovered above the floor slightly, ready to take flight, but Jazz grabbed his shoulder tightly.

"Danny, please, "she begged. " Let mom and dad deal with the ghost hunting tonight. It'll give you more time to catch up on your schoolwork."

"Mom and dad don't know how dangerous my foes are," Danny said seriously, "and for all that I know, Vlad might be out there right now. I have to go. Call Sam and Tucker to tell them I'm out in the field and if I'm not back in an hour…" He paused for a second. "Just…form a search party, okay?"

Even though Jazz disagreed with her brother, she knew how serious Danny was about his duties and how dangerous it would be without him. Letting go of his shoulder, she smiled weakly. Danny smiled back too, turned intangible, and jumped through the roof of the house into the night.

"Just be careful…" she said softly.

* * *

The GAV drove through the vacant roads of Amity Park slowly. Maddie focused on the new Fenton Ghost Radar that was installed into the van's system mere hours ago. Hopefully, they would be able to track down Phantom a lot easier this way.

"Anything, Maddie?" Jack asked, making another right turn around the shopping district.

"Nothing," Maddie answered sadly, tapping at the screen with a gloved finger to make sure the invention wasn't defective. "It's very odd. Usually there's at least one ghost in the area and Phantom always seems to appear at the exact same time."

"You think they're taking some kind of ghost vacation or something?"

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Jack…"

"**GHOST ALERT. GHOST ALERT. ECTO-SIGNATURE DETECTED."**

The sudden blare of the siren and female voice caught the Fentons off guard for a slight second before they recovered. The ghost radar worked after all.

"All right!" cried Jack giddily, pulling out one of his ecto-guns from the back seat while Maddie tried to hold on the wheel to keep the GAV under control. "It's time to tear that ghost kid apart, molecule by molecule!"

"Turn left and head straight," said Maddie, who was now calibrating the coordinates on the radar. "We're getting this ghost boy tonight, by whatever means necessary!"

* * *

Danny flew as fast as he could through town, his ghost sense strangely going off every so often to keep the trail warm. The trail finally led him to _Techno-Mart_, an appliance and computer store Tucker usually went to for his PDA and other computer supplies. Danny suddenly knew what this obviously spelt for him. 

Technus, the self proclaimed master of science and technology.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course…" he muttered to himself. For a so-called: 'master of science', Technus was as single minded as an ant. Every time Danny had fought him, it had always something linked to technology or computers, ending with Technus mostly being sucked inside the Fenton thermos.

_What a loser, _Danny thought.

Turning intangible once more, Danny flew silently into the store, with hopes that his parents weren't there first.

* * *

As the GAV finally pulled over near _Techno-Mart_, Jack and Maddie hopped out of the vehicle, heavily armed with their ghost hunting technology. Both the Fentons held their newly improved and fully charged Fenton Bazookas, along with other assortments of weapons and gadgets scattered along the ground. 

"Jack," called Maddie, ushering her husband beside her. "Take a look at this."

Jack looked upon the Fenton Finder (which was already at its 5.5 version) with beaming eyes. Along with the massive red dot they had spotted on the RV's radar, another dot had somehow appeared beside it.

"Could it be the ghost kid?" he asked.

"Could be," answered Maddie. "But I wonder who's with him?"

* * *

"**I AM TECHNUS! MASTER OF-"**

"Oh, for Pete's sake, do you _have_ to shout out your motive every single time I fight you?"

Danny was, of course, right with his theory. Technus was inside the store, trying to take control of the electronics with his ghostly energy, as usual. Danny had blasted him with a ghost ray, but the half ghost knew that Technus was more powerful in his recently upgraded form.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be the same for his enemy's habits of shouting at the top of his lungs.

"I grow tired of your meddling, child," Technus snarled in his high, nasally voice.

"Well, if you're so tired me of meddling, why don't you stay in the Ghost Zone where you belong?" snapped Danny. "You'll give me less headaches that way." He blasted Technus once again, only this time, the ghost of technology created a barrier using a bunch of CDs and floppy disks. Danny's attack bounced off the glowing green shield and was blasted back into a set of computers on display.

Weakening his defenses, Technus used the contents of his barrier and threw them at Danny with a wave of his hands. The half ghost jumped out of the way at the last second and let the disks dig deep into the wall like they were throwing stars. Technus' barrage kept going as Danny kept dodging the deadly disks and let them destroy numerous televisions, DVD players and computers.

Technus' ammo immediately ran out quickly and Danny used the advantage to throw an enormous ball of crackling ectoplasmic energy straight at him, sending the ghost flying back hard into the appliance section of the store.

"Jeez, Technus, why don't you just give up already so I can go-?"

"Freeze, Phantom!"

Danny quickly darted around, only to see the only two people he didn't want to encounter tonight, at least on ghost patrol: his parents. Maddie was already locked and loaded with a Fenton Bazooka, while Jack held a Jack-o-Ninetails. Both of them were definitely not in the mood to talk, but Technus was still loose and Danny couldn't afford to have his parents hurt.

"Mom-I mean, Maddie!" cried Danny, quickly correcting himself to avoid suspicion. "You and Jack have to get out of here. It's not safe!"

"You're not getting away from us this time, Phantom!" growled Maddie.

Pressing the trigger, Maddie fired from the bazooka and was thrown back slightly by the weapon's force. Giving a small yelp, Danny quickly flew out of harms way before the blast hit him.

"Please," Danny pleaded, "you guys have to listen to me! There's a ghost here that's trying to take control of all the technology in this store!"

"Yeah, and we're looking at him!" shouted Jack. "Have a go with my Jack-o-Ninetails, punk!"

Before he had time to react, Danny was caught in the crossfire of his father's invention. A whirlwind of metal cables with bright green clamps exploded from the center of a picture of Jack's head and curled around Danny's torso tightly so he wouldn't be able to go intangible and escape. Like a proud fisherman, Jack yanked Danny hard towards him.

"I got him, Maddie!" he cried. "I got him!"

"Great work, Jack!" cheered Maddie happily. Danny let out a gasp as he saw his mother pull out a Fenton thermos from her side pocket and unscrewed the cap. "Hold him still…"

Parents or not, Danny had to find a way out of this mess and fast. He couldn't phase through the ecto-resistant metal or blast his parents, so intangibility and ghost rays were out of the question. _I wonder…_

Shutting his eyes tightly, Danny focused on the inner core of his body. _Freeze,_ he thought hard. _I control you now._ _Freeze…_ All of a sudden, from out of thin air, Danny's normal soft white aura suddenly flared a light blue which engulfed his form, along with the cables he was currently bound to. The metal began to grow cold as it came in contact with the unusual blue light and a few moments later, they turned pale with frost. Jack and Maddie both turned their attention at Danny's new blue aura that made their jaws drop.

"What on Earth-?" Maddie began, but she was interrupted by a loud cracking sound from the metal cables as sold ice formed over them from Danny's ice powers. Before the Fenton parents had any time to react, one of the cables at Danny's neck snapped in half, followed by another and another. With enough strength, Danny broke free of the Jack-o- Ninetails and quickly flew high into the air from harms way.

"I really hate to do this, but…"

Firing large a blue blast from his fingertips, Danny froze Jack and Maddie's feet solid to the floor before they could get out of the way in time. They dropped their weapons to pull themselves out with no results.

"That should cool you guys off for a little bit while until I set Technus straight," Danny said. With a quick flick of his ghost tail, the ghost boy disappeared into the appliance section. "Sorry about this!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Fenton parents were still pulling themselves out of the thick ice with still no signs of breaking free. 

"Ugh! Darn that ghost kid!" growled Maddie through clenched teeth as she tried breaking up the ice with her fists. "He caught us off guard! Since when did he get the ability to conjure up ice out of thin air?"

Jack shrugged. "Who knows? Although it's really cool power…"

Maddie glared at her husband. "Jack!"

"Uh, sorry. I lost my train of thought for a second. So, how are going to get out of this?"

Maddie thought hard. "Well, we can't use the bazookas, the peeler or the thermos... Wait! My ecto-blaster! If I can concentrate the beam at a precise measure, it should cut through the ice and we can escape!"

"Good idea, sweet cheeks!"

Acting quickly, Maddie opened her small black pouch on the side of her jumpsuit and rummaged through it. "Hmm…smoke bombs, survival kit, first aid kit…Aha! Here we go!"

She pulled out a small silver lipstick container out of her pocket and removed the cap. She twisted the tube, only to find the lipstick was a shade of bright red instead of a lime green.

"This is my regular lipstick!" she exclaimed. "So where's my ecto-blaster?"

* * *

Jazz was pacing madly downstairs in the lab, arms crossed firmly with impatience. She was worried about her brother, being A) he was fighting ghosts while her parents were in the field as well and B) risking his grade point average by abandoning his studies. She bit her lip. 

_Maybe I should call Sam and Tuck,_ she thought. _It couldn't hurt, right? I mean, I'm not being as overprotective like I was back then, right? I'm just going to check what's going on…_

She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and began to scroll through her contacts list, when she paused. Danny wasn't a baby anymore. He was fourteen and he knew more of this superhero business than she ever had in the past. Maybe it was best to wait. It had already been half an hour since Danny left the house, just have to wait another thirty to call the gang. She smiled to herself while she closed her phone and put it back in her pocket.

"He'll be okay," she said to herself. "Don't worry yourself, Jazz…"

She suddenly saw something familiar on the lab's workbench. It was a small silver tube with the Fenton logo etched on the cap. Curiously, Jazz picked it up and opened it up to find a stick of glowing lime green lipstick inside.

"What's Mom's ecto-blaster doing here in the lab?"

* * *

Maddie groaned and smacked herself in the head as she realized where she left her weapon. 

"Ugh…this is going to be a _long_ night..."

* * *

_You weren't expecting that, now were you? evil laugh What will be the aftermath of the battle? You'll just have to wait and see. Don't forget to read and review! _


End file.
